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Nuclear Energy Blog Carnival 221

It’s time for the 221st edition of the Carnival of Nuclear Bloggers and Authors. This event circulates among the top pro-nuclear blogs, and each week highlights those items submitted to the host as most important or most timely. Of course, every week, there is a post made right here at ANS Nuclear Cafe to direct you to the Carnival – but on a rotating basis we host it here, and this week is one of those occasions. Let’s go in!

An epidemic of poaching is sweeping over Africa, paid for by Chinese and other Asians, fueled by the growing energy production from coal. Caught up in this frenzy of rituals are animals like the rhinoceros, which may not be long for the world.

This week, Gail Marcus follows up on a previous post about the impacts of the evolution of energy technologies and takes the discussion a few steps further. In addition to the always present tendency to protect existing jobs, she points to a study by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) that shows that mining and related activities are a significant part of the economies of several states in the US. She notes that this fact creates an additional dimension to the problem – it’s not just replacing one job with another one if the jobs are in different places – and comments on how states might proactively face such changes.

Oilfield work involves long hours and back-breaking work. It also involves radioactive material in many ways, including natural radioactivity and man-made radionuclides used in a number of specific ways.

George Coppenrath, a Vermont state senator who served on the Natural Resources and Energy Committee, wrote this guest post. He wonders what Vermont energy planners were thinking; did they think that closing Vermont Yankee would push energy production to wind and solar? Did they think natural gas would be inexpensive forever? It looks like they were wrong.

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NEI Nuclear Notes – submitted by Eric McErlain (various authors)

US Technology Exports and Africa: A delegation from Niger, South Africa and Namibia visited NEI on August 7th to see how peaceful commercial nuclear technology could be exported to those countries.

India needs to both expand its power system to serve 300 million people, as well as move away from coal fired generation assets. Nuclear power would, potentially, grow 15 times faster here than other assets. Also, a piece on shared development of HTGR’s between Japan and Indonesia.

Cameco on track; Cameco’s production target not impacted by process changes.

In light of repeated assertions that all ionizing radiation is harmful no matter how high or how low the dose, the existence of a beneficial health effect may be surprising. But nearly a century of laboratory experimentation and epidemiological observation of both humans and animals supports the protective response region and contradicts the conventional wisdom. Why then does the concept that all ionizing radiation is harmful hang on with such tenacity, and how did it gain a foothold against all evidence to the contrary?

TEPCO says the Unit 3 core may have completely melted and most of it might be embedded in the basemat under the reactor. The company cautions that their analysis “entails some degree of uncertainty.” Their degree of uncertainty might be substantial.

About Will Davis

Will Davis is the Communications Director for the N/S Savannah Association, Inc. where he also serves as historian, newsletter editor and member of the board of directors. Davis has recently been engaged by the Global America Business Institute as a consultant. He is also a consultant to, and writer for, the American Nuclear Society; an active ANS member, he is serving on the ANS Communications Committee 2013–2016. In addition, he is a contributing author for Fuel Cycle Week, and writes his own popular blog Atomic Power Review. Davis is a former US Navy reactor operator, qualified on S8G and S5W plants.